blog

When my husband Dana and I started Haglin Automotive, our loyal customers found us from The Yellow Pages.

Things have drastically changed since then thanks to all the technology advancements. Online reviews and Google play a big part in whether a customer will set foot in your shop or return for future repairs. 

At Haglin Auto, we always adjust to meet customers, and whether they’re a return customer or a new customer, we prioritize how they feel.

It’s important to meet your customers where they are. We even offer customers free vehicle pick-up and delivery service, free shuttle services, and free loaner vehicles.

But, more importantly, we make sure they understand their repairs and can see everything that’s going on with their cars.

Build Trust with Digital Vehicle Inspections (DVIs)

Haglin Auto has been around for 41 years in the Boulder area, and twice a year 30,000 people come in and out because of Boulder University of Colorado, so we’ve always had an influx of students.

And in order to cater to our college students, we started implementing DVIs. 

The reason we made the change in the first place was because our service writers would call a local college student and say, “You car is doing this, this, and that,” and a lot of the times a student would respond with, “I don’t understand,” “I’m not the one paying,” or “Let me call my mom or dad.”

From there, the student would make a phone call home, they would ask questions, and then the student would call back with questions. 

Traditionally, there are four pillars to an auto repair shop that all support one another: the shop owner, technicians, customers, and service advisors.

The integrity of the shop depends on each of these pillars in different ways. The shop owner needs to make the right calls and put the right systems in place for technicians and service advisors to do their jobs. Technicians must stay focused on repairs. And loyal customers keep the lights on.

By effectively leading your team, service advisors can support the other three pillars of the shop—and in turn, achieve balance and improve the quality of your job. Getting started in your Service Advisor career, or looking for some tips? Here’s how to lead your team with intention.

Haglin Automotive Owner Judi Haglin is committed to the auto repair industry. Not only has she helped out locally with Colorado’s Automotive Service Association (ASA), but she’s currently on the board for ASA National.

‍Judi took some time with us to outline her vision, discuss her experience as a woman-owned shop, and paint a picture of the future of the auto repair industry.

I believe that we should make the world a better place by leaving it better than how we found it. 

Growing up, my dad would always say to me, “If you borrow your neighbor's shovel, make sure that it's clean and in better condition when you give it back.” That’s always stuck with me. 

I take that same mindset and apply it to the automotive industry. If I’m asked to join an organization, I will leave it in a better position than when I got there. I can take organizations that are struggling and figure out how to make them more profitable. 

‍“I believe that we should make the world a better place by leaving it better than how we found it.” 

When I was asked to assist with ASA Colorado, the first thing I did was look at the training events, schools, instructors, and students.

I looked at what was working and what wasn’t. Once I shed light on the benefits of working with vendors and getting the word out to local independent auto repair businesses, we ended up having 600 people attend a training event we put on. I was able to help put ASA Colorado on the map. 

Shop owner Judi Haglin runs Haglin Automotive by strategically monitoring her shop’s automotive metrics.

I have an Elementary Education degree from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), and my husband, Dana, has a Saxophone Performance degree. I know, random combination, right? Well, once my husband and I graduated and we got married, I worked at a kitchen in a retirement home. After that, I got a job for a few years managing a McDonald’s.

Both of those jobs really taught me about policies and procedures, but they also helped me a ton when it comes to numbers. They helped me gain the ability to put all of that together and learn how to run my own business.  

I operate Haglin Automotive by the numbers. Knowing how the business is doing on a daily basis is great. And it’s amazing when you share the things that you gain. I share my knowledge of numbers with other shops through 20 Groups so they can run their business by the numbers, too. I believe that when you get to a point and you're successful at one thing, whatever that one thing is that you do really well, share it. Share it with the world. 

8 Metrics and Reports That Judi Haglin Uses To Run Her Shop  

I could go on and on about how metrics and reports have helped me run our business. I could also go on and on about which specific reports have helped us get to where we are. But there are a select few that I will make a point to check weekly, if not daily. 

1. Effective Labor Rate from Tekmetric’s End of Day Report 

2. Labor Hour Inventory   

3. Gross Profit from Tekmetric’s Profit Details Report  

4. Realtime Service Writer Report

5. Customer Lead Source

6. Lifetime Visits from Tekmetric’s Customer List Report 

7. One Time Visit Ratio

And finally…

‍8. The “Closing The Back Door” Report

We have a policy in our shop called “Closing The Back Door.”

Here’s how it works: if you have 500 new customers that have come into your shop and you’ve serviced 1,000 repeat customers, in reality you should have serviced a total of 1,500 customers for that year.

But a lot of the time it’s not 1,500 because a lot of your previous customers didn’t come back. 

At Haglin Automotive, we’ve picked up new ideas and found new ways of doing things over the years. We’re always looking, we’re always helping, we’re always training, and we’re always learning. We’re lifelong learners.

‍“You want your team to be a family. You have to be there for each other.”

We pay for lunch every Friday for our team meeting. Sometimes we have a meeting, but sometimes we just eat together and have a good time.

It’s important to always treat your employees like family. You want to get to know them on a personal level, listen to what their goals are, and help them reach their dreams.

We want to give each of our employees a career path. Whether they want a house, kids, retirement, anything, you can always ask yourself how you can help them get there. You want your team to be a family. You have to be there for each other.

Over the fall I planted a few pumpkin seeds and was expecting only a handful of pumpkins. But, to my surprise, we ended up with a whole pumpkin patch.

There were at least 60 pumpkins in our yard. So what we ended up doing was inviting our team over to do a pumpkin patch event. It was really fun.

Our team brought their kids and we did a pumpkin carving contest. It was a blast, and we all got to talk and get to know one another on a more meaningful level.   

‍“We want to give our team a clear path.” 

We find people who are interested in learning auto repair and we teach them the trade.

Not everyone who walks through the door needs 30 years of auto repair experience. We focus on bringing our team up. 

And as they climb the ladder, we train them on our shop’s values, our shop’s culture, who we all are as a team, and who I am as a business owner. 

We also teach them The Haglin Way:

‍Honesty and Integrity

Do the right thing in every action we take. Build on the foundation of being honest.

Do What Is Right—Every Time

All services recommended will be in the best interest of the customer, the vehicle, and the company.

Family 

Treat our employees and clients as our family. Strive to understand their situations and needs, and to exceed their expectations.

Everything Speaks

Lead by example and show your excellence. Everything has your signature. Sign in bold ink.

Bring It—Every Day

Approach every task with energy, focus, purpose and enthusiasm. 

Personal Growth

Empower each individual to grow and change, creating synergy and excitement while enriching their lives and realizing their own personal potential.

Technology and Industry

We work in an industry of constant change. The better and faster we are at adapting to change, the stronger and more successful we become as individuals and as a company.

Tekmerchant now includes the industry’s first “buy now, pay later” feature, allowing customers to complete vehicle repairs and pay over time with no risk to your shop!

The Tekmerchant platform offers flexible, forward thinking solutions that allow shops to save time and effort when managing funds and customer payments.

Shop owners can share invoices and accept payments via text and email, enabling the customer to pay directly from their smartphone and pick up the vehicle when it is convenient for them.

Additionally, customers can leverage Tekmerchant’s “buy now, pay later” feature using Affirm and Klarna. This is an industry-first solution that is familiar to customers who use it in other industries. 

Concurrently, Tekmerchant improves shop owner accounting processes by automatically integrating all partial and complete payments into the point-of-sale.

This feature, added by popular request from shop owners, integrates with Tekmetric’s existing payments reports for real-time tracking and reporting.